Homeowners and renters across the United States are struggling with high housing costs, according to a new State of the Nation’s Housing 2024 Report released by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report highlights the severe impact of rising housing costs on both homeowners and renters, and details how millions are unable to afford homeownership, and renter cost burdens have reached unprecedented levels.
A surge in new multifamily rental units is slowing rent growth and increasing single-family construction is starting to lift for-sale inventories. Still, addressing the country's housing crisis, including the record number of people experiencing homelessness, the inadequate housing safety net, and the growing threat of climate change, will require contributions from the private and nonprofit sectors as well as policymakers at all levels of government.
Key points
Rising housing costs:
- Home prices hit record highs in early 2024, increasing by 47% since 2020.
- Median home sales price is now about five times the median household income.
- Rent growth slowed to 0.2% in early 2024 but is still 26% higher than in 2020.
Homeownership challenges:
- Mortgage rates rose above 7% by mid-April 2024, making homebuying costlier.
- Homeownership rates rose slightly to 65.9% in 2023, the smallest increase since 2016.
- Significant racial disparities in homeownership: Hispanic (49.9%), Black (46.6%), and White (74.0%).
Record cost burdens:
- Half of all renter households spent over 30% of their income on housing in 2022, totaling 22.4 million renters.
- Cost-burdened homeowners increased by 3 million from 2019 to 2022, with 19.7 million affected.
Multifamily rental market:
- A surge in new multifamily units has softened rent increases but raised operating costs for property owners.
- Operating expenses grew by 7.1% over the past year, with insurance premiums up by 27.7%.
For-sale inventory shortage:
- Existing homes for sale are scarce, with inventory down 34% from March 2019.
- New home sales increased, making up 15% of single-family home sales in 2023.
Homelessness and climate threats:
- Homelessness reached a record high of 653,100 people in 2023.
- Climate-related disasters are increasingly threatening the housing stock, with 60.5 million homes at risk.
